Your Right to Know

The recently revealed situation involving state Sen. Chris Widener and his dealings with the
nonprofit he helped create have caught the attention of Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien, who
said yesterday he will talk with the state legislative inspector general about the situation.

“I’m familiar with the newspaper stories,” O’Brien said after a pretrial hearing for Rep.
Clayton Luckie, D-Dayton, who is facing 49 counts of theft, corruption and money laundering related
to use of campaign funds.

Asked if any particular issue with Widener stuck out, O’Brien said: “I don’t think I would want
to answer that yes or no. As a result of the stories, I’m going to be talking to (Legislative
Inspector General Tony) Bledsoe further.”

Widener, R-Springfield, who is expected to be the No. 2 Senate leader next year, has faced
questions about a 2009 amendment he inserted in the state budget that ultimately led to $413,000 in
public money generated through a new bed tax going to a nonprofit association he helped found a
decade ago. At the time, the association was facing financial problems, including hundreds of
thousands owed in back property taxes.

Widener insists he did nothing wrong, arguing he did not stand to personally benefit from his
amendment, and that he severed ties with his association a month before the amendment was approved.
His Ohio Equine and Agricultural Association built and operated a 146,000-square-foot exposition
center at the Clark County Fairgrounds.

Widener’s architecture firm was paid more than $250,000 in 2003 to design and manage the
construction of the exposition center.

There are questions about whether Widener should have disclosed on state forms his fiduciary
relationship with the association, and whether he was permitted to end his responsibility as a
guarantor of a portion of a $1 million loan to the association. Widener has said he sent the bank a
letter canceling his guarantee, but he does not have a response from the bank confirming the
cancellation, nor will the bank speak about it.

Widener wrote a recent op-ed piece defending his actions.

“As I considered helping Clark County and other counties with legislation that could benefit
tourist attractions, I realized that someone might try to suggest I was acting with a conflict of
interest,” he wrote. “That’s precisely why, in early May of 2009, I resigned from the board that
governs the Champions Center, prior to pursuing any legislation.

“I even went further than that. The guarantee I’d signed stated that it could be canceled with
notification to the bank. I canceled my guarantee. And from that moment forward, I’ve had no
connection with or responsibility for the Champions Center.”